Saturday, November 26, 2011

Inspired by "Kabootari Bole Kabootar Se" from Suraj, I put heads together with Gunmaster G9 and the Buddha Smiled to come up with more songs about or featuring pigeons.

As someone who grew up in a small town without any sort of "flying rats"—and a lover of Sesame Street, in which of course Bert is very fond of pigeons—I have never harbored any
ill-will towards these jolly-looking, cooing birds, and I enjoy their
fluffy, doted-on, and sometimes helpful or venegeful presence in Bollywood
songs.

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comments:

It's not a song, but there is that fight scene from "Maine Pyaar Kiya" where the pigeon remembers that the villain mistreated it, and there is a triple closeup on its angry little eye. That to me is the ultimate kabootar moment. A fabulous collection of songs!

People, we shouldn't talk about the killer pigeon. He's such a bad influence to his fellows!

Since we are remembering scenes,let's not forget the one who loved pigeons more than his gorgeous wife: Shashi in Junoon. And one of my favorite DDLJ's scenes: Shahrukh and Amrish Puri feeding the pigeons and saying "Ao"!

I think Masakali is my favorite, mostly because I love Delhi-6's songs.

The "Gutur, Gutur" song reminds me of my Chitrahaar watching days. I cringe at the thought that there was a time when we used to sing this song (and other Govinda-Karishma songs with equally dubious lyrics) all the time. There was a mini scandal in my small town when someone on the street got upset that a whole bunch of 14-15 year olds were enthusiastically singing songs full of double entendres on the school bus on our way back from a class picnic. Thankfully, our Principal was a very understanding man but we still had to sit through a very awkward conversation between our parents and teachers (most of whom were nuns and priests). In our defense, the early and mid 90s had nothing better to offer and honestly, we did not understand half the suggestive lyrics anyways.

my other filmi projects

Bong Along - a blog on vintage Bengali movies co-written by Indie Quill and me (and perhaps a few very friendly appearances by other friends as well).

Masala Zindabad - the podcast by Indie Quill and me, often featuring other writers and fans as guests. Masala Zindabad is an affectionate and thoughtful look at the broad range of themes that define Bollywood and make Bollywood defy definition. Available at iTunes.

Mysterious Order of the Skeleton Suit - the Agents of M.O.S.S. are a shadowy confederation of like-minded writers, broadcasters, creators, and jetsetters who have banded together in a bold mission to bring international intrigue and pop entertainment to the masses. Can anyone stand in the way of their diabolical schemes?

pragmatics

Text (c) 2005–2014, Beth Watkins. The ideas and opinions expressed in this site are mine alone unless otherwise attributed. They do not necessarily represent the views of my employer or of any other organization or website with which I may be associated.